A federal program providing free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured adults will shut down in August, just weeks before an updated shot will likely be released for the winter virus season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its Bridge Access Program will end early due to a lack of funding. The temporary program has provided more than 1.
4 million free COVID vaccines since it launched in September 2023 at a cost of more than $1 billion, according to the CDC. It was initially scheduled to end in December 2024. The closure of the Bridge Access Program will effectively cut off uninsured and underinsured people from the next formulation of the COVID vaccine, which can cost more than $130 at pharmacies such as Costco or Walgreens.
In 2022, 26 million Americans, or about 8% of the U.S. population, were estimated to have no health insurance, according to the Peter Peterson Foundation .
More than 600,000 — or 10% — of adults under the age of 65 in Los Angeles County do not have health insurance, according to the county Department of Public Health. “We don't have a national healthcare system that essentially every other high income country in the world has,” said Timothy Brewer, professor of epidemiology at UCLA. "And so we don't provide vaccines for our population.
” “It’s a tragedy,” he added. Uninsured and underinsured people can still get the current COVID vaccine for free. Here’s how.
Until August, people can find where to locate a free COVID-19 vaccine.
